"There is no way to describe the reward of absolute obedience. Any response to art is obedience. I wish I could point out how authoritative art work is dependent on the obedient state of mind.... When we see that all the authority there is, is within ourselves as a result of our obedience then we are free."
–– Agnes Martin (1912-2004), Canadian-born American abstract painter
via: Sketchbook 21, 2013, p. 65
"I make more mistakes than anyone else I know, and sooner or later, I patent most of them."
–– Thomas Edison (1847-1931), American inventor and businessman
via Sketchbook 21, 2013, p. 56
"You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have."
–– Maya Angelou (1928-2014), American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist
via: Sketchbook 21, 2013, p. 34
"It should not be hard for you to stop sometimes and look into the stains of walls, or ashes of a fire, or clouds, or mud or like places, in which, if you really consider them well, you may find really marvellous ideas."
–– Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Italian painter, engineer, inventor, and architect
via: Sketchbook 21, 2013, p. 16
"Set yourself to practice drawing, drawing only a little each day, so that you may not come to lose your taste for it, or get tired of it. ... Do not fail, say you go on, to draw something every day, for no matter how little it is, it will be well worth while, and will do you a world of good."
–– Cennino Cennini (c. 1360 – before 1427), Italian painter and writer
Source: Il Libro Dell'Arte, c. 1435 in Betty Edwards. The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1999 (first published in 1979); p. 249.
via: Sketchbook 21, 2013, p. 9
"Potential appeals to the imagination of the viewer. Something happens with the mind that goes further than showing a cleverly made object, for which a viewer can only feel admiration, and in the meantime comes to feel like a small clumsy person. You could compare it with looking at good art. It doesn't consume energy, but it produces energy. If you see a clever trick it's usually very tiring. But if you see potential, you are elevated as a viewer."
–– Louise Schouwenberg (b. 1954), Dutch art and design theorist, writer, educator and former visual artist
Source: Hella Jongerius. Misfit. p. 37.
via: Sketchbook 21, 2013, p. 4
"Don't think the garden loses its ecstasy in winter. It's quiet, but the roots are down there riotous."
–– Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (1207-1273), Persian poet and Sufi mystic; interpretation by Coleman Barks (b. 1937), American poet
via: Sketchbook 20, 2013, p. 134
